Handheld computers may hold the possibility for a one-to-one computer: student ratio. The impact of the use of Palm® (Palm, Inc.) handhelds on information acquisition and use by 5th grade students in a North Texas school during a class research project was investigated. Five research questions were examined using observation, interviews, surveys, and document analysis. Are there differences in information gathering and use with the Palm between gifted, dyslexic, and regular learners? What relevance criteria do students use to evaluate a web site to determine whether to download the site to the Palm and afterwards whether to use the downloaded site's information in the report? How do the Palms affect the writing process? Do the animations and concept maps produced on the Palm demonstrate understanding of the intended concepts? Are there significant differences in results (i.e., final products grade) between Palm users and non-Palm users? Three groups of learners in the class, gifted, dyslexic, and regular learners, participated in the study. The regular and dyslexic students reported using Web sites that had not been downloaded to the Palm. Students reported several factors used to decide whether to download Web sites, but the predominant deciding factor was the amount of information. The students used a combination of writing on paper and the Palm in the preparation of the report. Many students flipped between two programs, FreeWrite and Fling-It, finding information and then writing the facts into the report. The peer review process was more difficult with the Palm. Most students had more grammatical errors in this research report than in previous research projects. By creating animated drawings on the Palm handheld, the students demonstrated their understanding of the invention though sometimes the media or the student's drawing skills limited the quality of the final product. Creating the animations was motivational and addressed different learning styles than a written report alone. No statistically significant difference was found in the scores of the three 6+1 Traits categories, however the Palm users didn't meet the page-length requirement for the research project but the majority of the control class did.

The largest refugee group entering the United States in recent years is from Burma. Refugee students face a daunting set of challenges, from language and cultural differences to living in poverty, in becoming successful in their new homes. To be successful in schools and gain cultural and social capital, refugee students must learn and internalize the specific norms of their classrooms. In middle school, students are particularly reliant upon their peers for support, making peer interactions especially important. In multicultural settings, students have ample opportunities for intercultural interactions, which can help refugee students navigate their new settings and become more successful. Unfortunately, there has been little research on the experiences of Burmese refugee students in classrooms in the United States. I used a qualitative, transcendental phenomenological approach to study how three female Burmese refugee students experienced multicultural middle school classrooms in the United States, especially their intercultural interactions, through interviews, observations, and stimulated recall. The participants reported wanting to understand what they were learning, stay on task, and be kind to other students. Those traits developed from their experiences in their countries of origin and combined to create a picture of what a good student should be. In observations, students acted out their ideas of what it meant to be a good student. Their intercultural interactions in class reaffirmed their identities as good students. Implications based on the findings include setting up intentional intercultural interactions with a diverse group of students in classrooms with multicultural approaches and that researchers examine the experiences of various groups of marginalized students while accounting for the context in which they learn and acknowledging a multifaceted view of adolescent identity development.

The problem of this study is the effect of movement from the sixth grade to the seventh grade upon student social status, attitude toward school, and achievement.

This study investigated the effect familiarity with a teacher had on student interpretations of teacher verbal praise in seventh and eighth grade choral ensembles. A stimulus tape was constructed of 16, 30-second videotaped clips containing verbal praise of four teachers. Teachers identified their intent in the use of praise in each example. Students (n = 80) from the four choirs responded to the tape by labeling the praise in each clip as deserved or as one of three types of instructional praise (i.e., praise to encourage, to send a message to other students, or to seek student cooperation). Comparisons were made between choirs in labeling the praise. Comparisons were made also between each teacher's stated purpose in praising and the interpretations of choirs familiar and unfamiliar with the teacher. Choirs who were unfamiliar with the teacher differed from the teachers' own students in interpreting the praise: Students who knew a teacher labeled the praise as deserved in five clips, but unfamiliar choirs thought the praise served an instructional purpose. In four clips, choirs differed in their interpretations of the type of instructional praise. Students familiar with a teacher recognized their teacher's intent in praising in 12 of 16 clips. In some situations, familiarity with a teacher and context made a difference in detecting the teacher's purpose for praising. In five clips where teachers identified the praise as deserved, students unfamiliar with the teacher and context thought the praise was intended to encourage students. Students across choirs were particularly sensitive to a teacher's use of praise to send a message to other students. Students are keen observers of teacher praise. Findings suggest students discriminate between praise directed at the performance and praise used for instructional purposes, suggesting that observation instruments that rely on a single label for praise might miss important information. Findings support the importance of determining how teachers intend praise to serve and how students interpret the behavior.

Substance use is a significant problem among middle school students in the United States. Research indicates that the early use of substances increases the likelihood of negative outcomes including long-term use and abuse. Both parenting and peer variables exert strong influences on children's decisions to use or abstain from substances. As children age, peers begin to exert a stronger influence, but parenting practices can significantly reduce peers' harmful influences. In this study, three waves of data (collected at the end of 6th grade, and the beginning and end of 7th grade) from a large multi-site study were used to examine the role of peer deviance as a mediator of the influence of parental monitoring on substance use among an ethnically diverse sample of over 2,500 middle school students. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the longitudinal interrelations among parental monitoring, peer deviance, and substance use among middle school students, and to investigate potential group differences by gender and family structure. The hypotheses that peer deviance and substance use would influence one another over time were upheld. The two variables were interrelated such that peer deviance produced increases in substance use over time, but so too did substance use produce peer deviance over time. The prospective relation between substance use and peer deviance was stronger than the converse relation, suggesting that substance using peers seek one another out. Parental monitoring was associated with decreases in substance use over time, but its influence was small. Parental monitoring was more strongly associated with decreases in peer deviance. However, parental monitoring's effect on substance use was not mediated by peer deviance over these 3 waves in that parental monitoring at Wave 1 did not predict substance use 1 year later. Contrary to hypothesis, substance use was not associated with changes in parental monitoring over time, although peer deviance was associated with less monitoring. In general, parental monitoring was more closely linked to peer deviance than it was to substance use. This study found no convincing evidence to suggest group differences in the overall pattern of findings according to gender or family structure.

Thesis advisor: Andy Hargreaves / Research often overlooks students who are of Brazilian origin when considering educational equality and opportunity for different racial and ethnic groups. This qualitative study addresses this gap in the literature by examining the experiences and forces that influence the educational aspirations of Brazilian students and students of Brazilian origin living in the United States during their eighth grade year of middle school. It specifically considers students' educational aspirations including the influence of families, the school, and the community on students' ambitions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with students, their parents, and educators (i.e., teachers, guidance counselors, a social worker, and a principal) from a middle school in the Northeast. Data showed that many students had developed postsecondary plans by the conclusion of their eighth grade year, including students' thoughts relating to college, careers, and work. Students' ambitions were significantly influenced by family members, especially parents, as well as by experiences with their families as immigrants in the United States. Legal status particularly affected students' intended pathways. Findings from this study suggest the following three areas of need for Brazilian middle school students: (a) educational planning during middle school, (b) emphasis on the role of family connectedness and engagement for Brazilian families, and (c) adaptation to circumstances related to immigration status. One way of comprehending the needs of Brazilian middle school students and students of Brazilian origin in relation to the development of their educational aspirations is through integrating the theories of family and social capital. Family capital emphasizes the role of families in shaping students' educational pathways; social capital highlights the need to develop ties beyond close networks as a means for accessing knowledge and resources that further students' educational opportunities. Therefore, it is hoped that further attention to the family and social capital of Brazilian families in research, policy, and practice will build upon students' ambitions and improve their educational opportunities. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether teaching students about the structure of a text would be associated with improved reading comprehension. Science texts were used with the intention of adding to what is known about content-area reading comprehension. To investigate the effects of teaching science text structure, a reading comprehension program called Comprehending Science Texts with Structure (CSTS) was developed and tested using an true experimental design. Importantly, the study was conducted in China with Mandarin-speaking students, with whom there has been a great shortage of reading research. The CSTS program is a 15-lesson reading comprehension program designed to teach middle school students how to comprehend science texts by using three text structure strategies, namely asking generic questions (GQs), using graphic organizers (GOs), and summary writing (SW). A total of 88 sixth grade students participated in this study and were randomly assigned to either the CSTS intervention group or the content-only control group. After the completion of the CSTS program, students’ text structure knowledge and reading comprehension were measured using researcher-designed measures of the comprehension of both science and generic text. The generic text was used in order to investigate near-transfer effects. Far transfer was measured post-intervention through the use of two standardized reading tests, one taken from a state assessment and the other from the PISA reading test. Results from multivariate analyses of covariance indicated that, overall, students in the treatment group significantly outperformed their counterparts in the control group after controlling for pretest reading skill and science knowledge. Specifically, students who received the CSTS intervention showed significant acquisition of science texts structure knowledge and also significantly outperformed the controls in the comprehension of science texts. The results also demonstrated the near-transfer effects of the CSTS from science texts to generic texts; here, students in the treatment group significantly gained generic text structure knowledge and also significantly outperformed the controls in the comprehension of generic texts significant. A far-transfer effect, however, was not found, as the two groups did not show a statistically significant difference in performance on the post-test standardized reading comprehension tests.

This study investigates the effect of the helping relationship in cross-age tutoring upon the attitude toward school, self-concept, and grade average of elementary and middle-school students.The data measuring attitude toward school of those in the tutor-pupil relationship imply that this variable is the most sensitive to the tutoring program. The program resulted in a definitely superior attitude toward school for eighth graders and one sub-group of third graders. Therefore, it is concluded that cross-age tutoring can be expected to result in an improved attitude toward school on the part of children in specific age levels. Since no significant difference in self-concept was found, cross-age tutoring cannot be supported as an indirect means of improving the self-concept of children. Generally, the experimental condition of the tutor-pupil relationship did not result in higher grade averages for the experimental tutors and pupils in grades three, five, and six; however, the grade averages of lower-ability eighth-grade students showed highly significant gains over the control group. Therefore, although cross-age tutoring cannot be expected to improve academic standing of all elementary students, lower-ability eighth-grade students acting as tutors can be expected to improve their academic standing.

Children's interaction with peers supports cognitive development in numerous ways. The claim investigated in the present study is that these benefits include support at a metacognitive level that children provide one another, specifically in the form of meta-level speech aimed at regulating the other's behavior. This proposition originates in Vygotsky's views of a bi-directional zone of proximal development between peers with resulting transfer from inter-mental to intra-mental planes. Sixty-four 7th graders participated in the study. Students who shared a position on a social issue engaged in electronic dialogs with a succession of pairs who held an opposing position. In one condition (Stay), students worked with the identical same-side partner over six twice-weekly dialog sessions. In the other condition (Switch), students worked with a new same-side partner at each session. Students experienced both conditions, half of them first the Stay condition and then, discussing a new topic, the Switch condition. Condition order was reversed for the other half of participants. Students engaged in more frequent meta-talk in the Stay than the Switch condition; Stay conversations contained more frequent regulatory utterances than Switch conversations and a greater proportion of planning statements. Electronic dialogs produced in the Stay condition contained a higher proportion of meta-talk than those produced in the Switch condition; however, differences favoring the Stay condition in direct counterargument use were found at only one of two data collection points. On the whole, differences suggest that collaborators scaffolded one another’s meta-level development through regulatory conversation that evolved over time as collaborators developed their relationships, and that, for Stay pairs, this evolving shared regulatory talk extended to the electronic discourse. There was no consistent evidence, however, that this success extended to argument strategies on the discourse task.

This dissertation research focuses on assessing student behavior, academic emotions, and knowledge within a middle school online learning environment, and analyzing potential effects on students’ interests and choices related to decisions about going to college. Using students’ longitudinal data ranging from their middle school, to high school, to postsecondary years, this dissertation uses quantitative methodologies to investigate antecedents to college attendance that occur as early as middle school. The dissertation asks whether student behavior, academic emotions, and learning as early as middle school can be predictive of college attendance years later. This is investigated by developing predictive and structural models of said outcomes, using assessments of learning, emotions and engagement from student interaction data from an online learning environment they used in their middle school curriculum. The same middle school factors are also assessed with self-report measures of course choices, interests in college majors and careers formed when they were in high school. The dissertation then evaluates how student choices and interests in high school can mediate between the educational experiences students have during middle school and their eventual college attendance, to give a fuller illustration of the cognitive and non-cognitive mechanisms that students may experience throughout varied periods in school. Such understanding may provide educators with actionable information about a students’ in-depth experiences and trajectories within the college pipeline.